It’s Always Budget Season in Local Government

By Mark Moses

09/09/2024

The many California agencies that have placed new taxes on the November ballot owe it to their residents and businesses to wean their organizations from reliance on serial tax increases to remain afloat. It’s disconcerting that such a clearly unsustainable strategy has become the go-to solution for so many municipal leaders. The problem is that...

TAGS: budget, Finance, mark moses

Newsom Wisely Avoids Transit Bailout in May Budget Revise

By Marc Joffe

05/16/2023

Governor Newsom’s FY 2023-24 budget update included a larger projected deficit and more balancing measures than his January budget. But, despite pressure from Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and transit agencies, the May Revise excluded emergency funding for local bus and rail systems around the state. The agencies’ proposed transit bailout was at best premature,...

TAGS: budget, California budget, California state budget, Gavin Newsom, state budget, Transportation, transportation infrastructure

Sacramento’s Mismanagement of Taxpayer Dollars

By Sheridan Karras

05/11/2023

Leaders in Sacramento are grappling with the state budget this month as California faces a budget deficit of nearly $32 billion. Senate leaders claim they can address the deficit without cutting spending on state programs, but the reality is that a fiscal reckoning is long overdue. According to a survey released by the Public Policy...

TAGS: budget, California budget, California state budget, Gavin Newsom, state budget

Inflation-adjusted per capita state spending doubles in one decade – for what?

By Edward Ring

06/16/2022

The California State Legislature has just released the “Floor Report of the 2022-2023 Budget,” and it’s a doozy. Representing an agreement between the budget committees of the Assembly and the Senate, and building on Governor Newsom’s proposal, this $300 billion monstrosity has moved one step closer to becoming final. To fully appreciate how out of...

TAGS: budget, California state budget, Edward Ring, state budget

National Review’s Radio Free California Podcast Episode 206: California Lawmakers Propose State Takeover of Health Care

By Will Swaim

01/13/2022

Assembly Bill 1400 would double California taxes and transform doctors into virtual state employees. Gavin Newsom’s new budget aims to signal his “global leadership” on global-climate issues but reveals instead his documented failures to achieve more modest goals at home. The remarkable, 21-year run of California’s standout auditor ends with a crucial fight over her...

TAGS: budget, Newsom, single-payer

Newsom’s Education Spending Binge

By Edward Ring

05/19/2021

“It is our hope that all schools will be able to physically open for five days per week in the fall but local conditions will determine whether that is possible.” – Cecily Myart-Cruz, President, United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA Update 5/14/2021) It’s impossible to know what “local conditions” are going to look like when...

TAGS: budget, education, Newsom

California fiscal outlook remains grim

By David Schwartzman

07/20/2017

California’s state government collected $2.68 billion less in revenues than expected during the 2016-17 fiscal year. The bad news will likely worsen California’s position relative to other states: After crunching 2015 data for fiscal conditions in all fifty states, the Mercatus Center at George Mason University ranks California 43rd. While we rank a relatively strong...

TAGS: budget, infrastructure

Brown’s latest budget belies his fiscally conservative rhetoric

By Marc Joffe

05/16/2017

At last week’s budget press conference, Governor Jerry Brown warned of the threat of a recession and the risk to California’s budget from federal health care legislation, but the details of his 2017-18 budget plans failed to mirror his cautionary rhetoric.

TAGS: budget, California Governor Jerry Brown

Forget fiscal responsibility: Jerry Brown embraces pension shell game

By Steven Greenhut

05/16/2017

The Brown administration decided to (kind of, sort of) tackle the state’s massive and growing level of unfunded liabilities – i.e., the hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer-backed debt to fund retirement promises made to the state’s government employees. It’s best to curb our enthusiasm, however. The governor didn’t have much of a choice.

TAGS: budget, California Governor Jerry Brown

Transparency: Many ways to put your agency’s budget online

By Marc Joffe

05/10/2017

Across California governments are putting more of their information online. While browser-based charts and graphs showing your agencies’ revenues and expenditures will impress constituents, moving fiscal data online can be challenging – especially for those governments that do not have a lot of technology geeks on staff. Fortunately, governments now have an array of options...

TAGS: budget, Transparency

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